Former addict’s goal ‘To help one person’

About 225 attend heroin awareness program in Roxana

Scott Cousins, For The Telegraph

Published
8:45 pm CDT, Saturday, August 29, 2015

Chad Sabora, vice president and co-founder of the Missouri Network for Opiate Reform and Recovery, talks to about 225 people at an event to raise awareness about the problem of heroin addiction in Madison County. The event, which included a screening of the documentary “The Heroin Project,” was held Saturday afternoon at the Nazarene Community Center in Roxana. less

Chad Sabora, vice president and co-founder of the Missouri Network for Opiate Reform and Recovery, talks to about 225 people at an event to raise awareness about the problem of heroin addiction in Madison ... more

Photo: Scott Cousins | For The Telegraph

Photo: Scott Cousins | For The Telegraph

Image
1of/3

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 3

Chad Sabora, vice president and co-founder of the Missouri Network for Opiate Reform and Recovery, talks to about 225 people at an event to raise awareness about the problem of heroin addiction in Madison County. The event, which included a screening of the documentary “The Heroin Project,” was held Saturday afternoon at the Nazarene Community Center in Roxana. less

Chad Sabora, vice president and co-founder of the Missouri Network for Opiate Reform and Recovery, talks to about 225 people at an event to raise awareness about the problem of heroin addiction in Madison ... more

Photo: Scott Cousins | For The Telegraph

Former addict’s goal ‘To help one person’

1 / 3

Back to Gallery

ROXANA — More than 200 people showed up Saturday for a screening of “The Heroin Project,” a documentary on Madison County’s heroin epidemic, and also had a chance to talk to representatives of about a dozen agencies or groups dealing with the issue.

The hour-long documentary, produced by Ashley Seering and Cory Byers, of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, details the issue through interviews with public officials, family members and addicts. The screening was held Saturday afternoon at the Nazarene Community Center in Roxana.

The event was organized by Shannon Carlisle and Dave Admire to raise awareness about heroin use, which was described both by them, others at the program and in the documentary as “pandemic.”

Like many of those participating in Saturday’s event, they have personal experience in the issue.

“My son’s a heroin addict,” Admire said, adding his son, Bradley Admire, 21, started out on painkillers for a high school sports injury.

“It’s been very difficult, it’s been a long road in and out of treatment facilities,” Dave Admire, who also took part in “The Heroin Project” said. “Overdoses — in three years he’s overdosed four times that I know of, once he was on life support for three days.”

“It’s been rough, just worrying he survives every day,” he added.

Carlisle is a former heroin addict, who has been clean for about 3.5 years.

Her goal is “To help one person, for just one person to know the resources out there to help them.”

Heroin has become increasingly more commonplace since about 2008, according to local law enforcement officials.

Detective Chris Coyne, of the Troy Police Department, a participant in the documentary, said it appears that much of the heroin trade originates in St. Louis and North St. Louis County, and is brought into Illinois. He also said that the dealers are targeting “suburban white yuppie kids.”

It doesn’t discriminate, it takes everybody.”

He also noted that as the purity of heroin increased the price dropped, and is now $5 to $10 per “button.”

The event began with Chad Sabora, vice president and co-founder of the Missouri Network for Opiate Reform and Recovery, urging people to contact their legislators to urge overriding a veto of funding for heroin programs by Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner.

A vote on the bill is expected Wednesday.

After the screening several people who participated in the documentary, including David Admire and Coyne, participated in a Q-A session.

People also got a chance to talk to representatives of a number of groups or agencies dealing with the heroin problem.

Lakeisha Adams, community outreach coordinator for New Vision Services at Alton Memorial Hospital — a treatment service for opiate and alcohol addiction, said they can help wean addicts off of opiates gradually, as well as treat other symptoms of addiction.

“The biggest issue that I see is that the individuals getting hooked on these opiates are not getting the medical care they need. They’re trying to do this on their own. It’s just so hard to do this on your own. If we don’t help, you could die just from the detox. When they walk out the door, we want them healthy, so they can get their mind healthy.”

People sign up to contact their legislators about an override of Gov. Rauner’s veto of heroin treatment-related legislation at a screening of “The Heroin Project,” a documentary about the heroin epidemic in Madison County. About 225 people attended the screening, which included booths by about a dozen groups and agencies dealing with the issue, Saturday afternoon at the Nazarene Community Center in Roxana.

Scott Cousins/For the Telegraph

Several participants in the documentary “The Heroin Project,” which details the issue of heroin addiction in Madison County, talk after a screening of the documentary Saturday at the Nazarene Community Center in Roxana. About 225 people attended the event, designed to increase awareness about the problem.

Scott Cousins/For the Telegraph

Chad Sabora, vice president and co-founder of the Missouri Network for Opiate Reform and Recovery, talks to about 225 people at an event to raise awareness about the problem of heroin addiction in Madison County. The event, which included a screening of the documentary “The Heroin Project,” was held at the Nazarene Community Center in Roxana.

Scott Cousins is a freelance writer and photographer for the Telegraph.